1. Field
The present disclosure is directed to a method and apparatus for mechanically coupling portable communication devices. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to a detachable coupling mechanism that provides fully configurable portable communication device form factors.
2. Introduction
Portable communication devices used in today's society include mobile phones, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, tablets, gaming devices, and various other electronic communication devices. Current portable communication devices are crammed with many features, such as phone features, gaming features, navigation features, music playing features, electronic messaging features, camera features, video features, application features, and many other features.
Portable communication devices today have fixed form factors. For example, mobile phones have a fixed form factor, such as a flip phone form factor, a slider phone form factor, a candy bar phone form factor, a touch-screen phone form factor, or other fixed form factors.
Unfortunately, these form factors are too rigid in that they have very limited flexibility to be reconfigured to other form factors. This limited flexibility is due to the complexity of portable communication device hinges. For example, a phone with a flip form factor cannot be converted into a slider form factor. Furthermore, portable communication device hinges use hinge stops that break if excessive force is applied to the hinge. For example, a flip phone hinge will break if excessive force is applied to the phone halves when the flip phone is open. Additionally, a phone's original form factor cannot be significantly altered, which prevents optimal configuration of the phone for many of its features. For example, an open flip form factor can be better for projecting an image on a wall from a phone microprojector and a side-by-side form factor can be better for displaying one image on two combined phone screens. These limitations are the result of limited coupling devices for portable communication devices.
Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus for mechanically coupling portable communication devices.